Tutorial:Structuring and writing a synopsis
Tutorial:Structuring and writing a synopsis by Scoobylover The synopsis is the most important part of your episode/movie/video game/etc. It tells people about what happens in your episode/movie/video game/etc. The synopsis must be interesting and realistic-at least to the Scooby-Doo universe. Your synopsis can be hard to write, but it must be at least a paragraph or two long. It is much, much better if your synopsis is long than just a couple sentences. If each one of your episodes or whatever's synopsises are just four sentences long, people will easily get bored of them and look at other articles. This tutorial will be divided into a few sections, each covering a different article's synopsis (episode, movie, video game), with musts and options and dos and don'ts. If you don't know what type of article to create, look around the wiki for examples and see which ones you like best, and come back here if you need help on the synopsis. Remember, this article is long, so choose which part you like best and just read that, otherwise it will take a bit more to read it. Episode Episodes are the most normal to do on Scooby-Doo Fanon. You will find at least a hundred pages of fully-written episodes on this wiki. Episodes are probably the simplest to do because they are classic in the Scooby-Doo world. Musts/dos -You must include and describe all your characters, including the villain, suspects, relatives of the gang, guest stars, etc. This is vital because if you do not describe them very good then the reader will have no picture of it in their mind (this is before you create character pages). It is good to at least describe the villains' features and also the characters' features, because, as I have said before, it is good to have an image in the mind of the reader. For example: The gang meet Ally Smith, a fat woman with short blond hair and a polite attitude. -Unless you are writing a two or more part episode, you must have the monster unmasked, revealed as someone and then explain the motive-or have the gang uncover it is real. If you don't, then the reader will have no idea who the culprit is or if the monster is real. For example: The monster turns out to be Joanna Smith, Ally's twin sister. She wanted revenge on Ally for kicking her out of the music band. -Give the location so that, once again, the reader may have a clear picture. You do not have to entirely descriptive. For example: The gang arrived in the haunted castle, ready to search its dungeons and halls. As you can see, the sentence does not describe the entire castle, only gives a brief overview so the reader knows where they are. -Also, you must have some way of the monster getting caught. In the Scooby-Doo universe, there are traditionally two ways to do this: you can have Fred design a trap (describe how it works and what materials are needed) or you can have the gang chased by the monster and then the monster crashing somewhere and the gang capturing him (very rarely happens). Each must be at least a little bit descriptive. -Above all, it is your choice what format you choose to do it in. This means you can choose whether you want to do it "book style" (characters frequently saying stuff in quotation marks as you discuss the synopsis) or you can do it "classic style" (you say the characters say something not in quotation marks, for example: Shaggy tells Scooby he thought he saw the monster). Either of these ways is fine, but I suggest the second one as that is classic Scooby-Doo format. You MUST write it in present tense. -Make your synopsis exciting. That way people will read your things more. Options -It is best if you include at least one classic (optional) Scooby-Doo trait. There are a couple to choose from, and there is one exception that you do not have to describe, which is Velma losing her glasses. You do not have to right "Velma loses her glasses" although it would make more sense, but that is a very lesser part you don't have to include. Other than that, the episode classic traits are: *Shaggy and Scooby getting chased and scared by the monster (mandatory, should be in Musts but oh well) *Daphne getting kidnapped by the monster (happens often) *A person getting scared at the beginning by the monster (happens very often, I myself rarely use it, but it used a lot in normal episodes) *Discussing of plans in the Mystery Machine (happened very often in early episodes of Scooby-Doo) These are the best ones to use. Others are sometimes used, however I suggest you use these most. -You can have a guest star featured in the episode that the gang meet. It does not matter who the guest star is, the gang however must recognize him. This also works with relatives of the gang. Don'ts -Don't have anything very violent in your synopsis (guns, blood, etc.). -Don't write in past tense. -Do not write every descriptive detail of the episode; that is not a smart idea as people would easily get bored and read something else. If you would like to describe your episode intently, it is best to write a novel. Movies Movies are nearly the same thing as episodes, only longer. Remember to write the synopsis longer than episodes. For headers on movies, read the episode ones. Video games Video games are the games which are created about Scooby-Doo. They are quite different in writing the synopsis. Video game synopsises are very different from episode or movie ones, because they are much shorter. Here are a couple headers (options not included). Musts/dos -You must have why the gang are solving the mystery in the first place. -There must be a master boss at the end. -If you would like you can-and actually should-give a sentence about each area the gang must get past. Don'ts -Don't describe how the gang get past every monster and pick up every weapon. -Don't describe every monster; instead put that below, under "Minor monsters" and for bosses put "Bosses". Category:Tutorials